Job 9:27-28

9:27 If I say, ¹  ‘I will ²  forget my complaint,

I will change my expression ³  and be cheerful,’ ⁴ 

9:28 I dread ⁵  all my sufferings, ⁶ 

for ⁷  I know that you do not hold me blameless. ⁸ 

Psalms 69:20

69:20 Their insults are painful ⁹  and make me lose heart; ¹⁰ 

I look ¹¹  for sympathy, but receive none, ¹² 

for comforters, but find none.

Psalms 119:28

119:28 I collapse ¹³  from grief.

Sustain me by your word! ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 61:3

61:3 to strengthen those who mourn in Zion,

by giving them a turban, instead of ashes,

oil symbolizing joy, ¹⁵  instead of mourning,

a garment symbolizing praise, ¹⁶  instead of discouragement. ¹⁷ 

They will be called oaks of righteousness, ¹⁸ 

trees planted by the Lord to reveal his splendor. ¹⁹ 

Matthew 11:28

11:28 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Matthew 26:37

26:37 He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and became anguished and distressed.

Romans 9:2

9:2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. ²⁰ 

Philippians 2:26

2:26 Indeed, he greatly missed all of you and was distressed because you heard that he had been ill.

Hebrews 12:11

12:11 Now all discipline seems painful at the time, not joyful. ²¹  But later it produces the fruit of peace and righteousness ²²  for those trained by it.

James 4:9

4:9 Grieve, mourn, ²³  and weep. Turn your laughter ²⁴  into mourning and your joy into despair.

[9:27]  ¹ tn The construction here uses the infinitive construct with a pronominal suffix – “if my saying” is this, or “if I say.” For the conditional clause using אִם (’im) with a noun clause, see GKC 496 §159.u.

[9:27]  ² tn The verbal form is a cohortative of resolve: “I will forget” or “I am determined to forget.” The same will be used in the second colon of the verse.

[9:27]  ³ tn Heb “I will abandon my face,” i.e., change my expression. The construction here is unusual; G. R. Driver connected it to an Arabic word ‘adaba, “made agreeable” (IV), and so interpreted this line to mean “make my countenance pleasant” (“Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 76). M. Dahood found a Ugaritic root meaning “make, arrange” (“The Root ’zb II in Job,” JBL 78 [1959]: 303-9), and said, “I will arrange my face.” But see H. G. Williamson, “A Reconsideration of `azab II in Ugaritic,” ZAW 87 (1985): 74-85; Williamson shows it is probably not a legitimate cognate. D. J. A. Clines (Job [WBC], 219) observes that with all these suggestions there are too many homonyms for the root. The MT construction is still plausible.

[9:27]  ⁴ tn In the Hiphil of בָּלַג (balag) corresponds to Arabic balija which means “to shine” and “to be merry.” The shining face would signify cheerfulness and smiling. It could be translated “and brighten [my face].”

[9:28]  ⁵ tn The word was used in Job 3:25; it has the idea of “dread, fear, tremble at.” The point here is that even if Job changes his appearance, he still dreads the sufferings, because he knows that God is treating him as a criminal.

[9:28]  ⁶ sn See Job 7:15; see also the translation by G. Perles, “I tremble in every nerve” (“The Fourteenth Edition of Gesenius-Buhl’s Dictionary,” JQR 18 [1905/06]: 383-90).

[9:28]  ⁷ tn The conjunction “for” is supplied in the translation.

[9:28]  ⁸ sn A. B. Davidson (Job, 73) appropriately notes that Job’s afflictions were the proof of his guilt in the estimation of God. If God held him innocent, he would remove the afflictions.

[69:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “break my heart.” The “heart” is viewed here as the origin of the psalmist’s emotions.

[69:20]  ¹⁰ tn The verb form appears to be a Qal preterite from an otherwise unattested root נוּשׁ (nush), which some consider an alternate form of אָנַשׁ (’anash, “be weak; be sick”; see BDB 60 s.v. I אָנַשׁ). Perhaps the form should be emended to a Niphal, וָאֵאָנְשָׁה (va’e’onshah, “and I am sick”). The Niphal of אָנַשׁ occurs in 2 Sam 12:15, where it is used to describe David’s sick child.

[69:20]  ¹¹ tn Heb “wait.”

[69:20]  ¹² tn Heb “and I wait for sympathy, but there is none.” The form נוּד (nud) is an infinitive functioning as a verbal noun:, “sympathizing.” Some suggest emending the form to a participle נָד (nad, “one who shows sympathy”). The verb נוּד (nud) also has the nuance “show sympathy” in Job 2:11; 42:11 and Isa 51:19.

[119:28]  ¹³ tn Some translate “my soul weeps,” taking the verb דָלַף (dalaf) from a root meaning “to drip; to drop” (BDB 196 s.v. דֶּלַף). On the basis of cognate evidence from Arabic and Akkadian, HALOT 223 s.v. II דלף proposes a homonymic root here, meaning “be sleepless.” Following L. C. Allen (Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 127, 135) the translation assumes that the verb is cognate with Ugaritic dlp, “to collapse; to crumple” in CTA 2 iv. 17, 26. See G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 44, 144.

[119:28]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “according to your word.” Many medieval Hebrew mss read the plural “your words.”

[61:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “oil of joy” (KJV, ASV); NASB, NIV, NRSV “the oil of gladness.”

[61:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “garment of praise.”

[61:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “a faint spirit” (so NRSV); KJV, ASV “the spirit of heaviness”; NASB “a spirit of fainting.”

[61:3]  ¹⁸ tn Rather than referring to the character of the people, צֶדֶק (tsedeq) may carry the nuance “vindication” here, suggesting that God’s restored people are a testimony to his justice. See v. 2, which alludes to the fact that God will take vengeance against the enemies of his people. Cf. NAB “oaks of justice.”

[61:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “a planting of the Lord to reveal splendor.”

[9:2]  ²⁰ tn Grk “my sorrow is great and the anguish in my heart is unceasing.”

[12:11]  ²¹ tn Grk “all discipline at the time does not seem to be of joy, but of sorrow.”

[12:11]  ²² tn Grk “the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

[4:9]  ²³ tn This term and the following one are preceded by καί (kai) in the Greek text, but contemporary English generally uses connectives only between the last two items in such a series.

[4:9]  ²⁴ tn Grk “let your laughter be turned.”